This invention relates to labels, and more particularly to a label which can receive and protect information from an impact imprinting source, such as a computer printer.
Recently, the United States Federal Highway Administration developed a regulation requiring all manufacturers of motor vehicles to provide certification labels on all vehicles certifying that the vehicle meets certain federal safety standards. The required certification label must remain in place and be legible for the life of the vehicle.
Because of the large quantity of safety certification labels required by the auto manufacturers, and the resulting necessity that the labels be produced economically, the information required by the federal standards has been computer-printed on safety certification labels. However, printing, whether it be by computer printing or by typewriter, is not a durable form of intelligence, because the ink from the printing can be smeared, erased, or otherwise defaced during use of the label.
In one prior art safety certification label, the required information is printed by computer on a face label which is then overlaminated with a label overlay to protect the computer-printed information which otherwise might be defaced if the overlay is removed. The disadvantages of such a label are the relatively high cost and excessive amount of time and materials required in the two-step process of computer-printing and combined label application.